ANS is pleased to report that on February 23rd, after more than a month of delays
and aborted launch attempts, the Delta II rocket carrying the South African
SunSat Amateur Radio satellite successfully lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base
in California.

From the launch site, Cliff, K7RR, (via John, W7RAQ) first reported the good news to
ANS:

"Success at last! The rocket carrying SunSat was launched this morning. The launch
was a spectacular sight with the rocket lifting straight up, heading slightly west then
turning south before disappearing from visual sight."--K7RR

Following the launch, the AMSAT-BB was active with congratulations for the SunSat team.
KD6PAG first reported receiving the downlink, noting "the bird was S-9 at
times." John, G0ORX, passed on "congratulations to Sunsat!" Phil, KA9Q,
reported seeing the launch from the front of his house in San Diego. KA9Q told ANS that he
"picked up the yellow SRB plumes about a minute after launch as it rose above the
usual low elevation haze."

"On behalf of AMSAT-NA, please pass along our sincere congratulations on the
successful launch and activation of SUNSAT in orbit. I know there are many hams around the
world who have been patiently waiting for the launch of this satellite and I am personally
looking forward to the unique on-orbit capabilities that it will bring to us. Once again,
our sincere congratulations and thanks to all the SunSat team for a job well done!"--KB1SF

SunSat, which stands for Stellenbosch University Satellite, takes its name from the
South African university whose students constructed the payload. The University of
Stellenbosch, situated in the second oldest town in South Africa, is not far from the
southern tip of the African continent just east of Cape Town. The university has in
excess of 14,000 students.

The SunSat package includes digital store-and-forward capability and a voice 'parrot'
repeater system that will be used primarily for educational demonstrations. The satellite
has two VHF and two UHF transmit-receive systems. Current downlink activity from SunSat is
on 436.250 MHz, using a FSK Bell 202 format at 1200 baud. A complete
description of SunSat (along with photographs) is available in the September/October 1998
issue of The AMSAT Journal.

The SunSat command team, headed by Garth Milne, ZR1AFH, reported signals were received
from the new satellite during the very first orbit. "We uplinked commands to Sunsat
and were overjoyed to hear UHF telemetry start at 1200 baud, just as we wished,"
said ZR1AFH. However, after 12 hours in orbit, uplinking would become much more
difficult, mainly because the spacecraft was still tumbling. Cliff, K7RR, reported that
after making many changes including increasing power and installing new antennas on the
ground, the Vandenberg command team received loud and clear return signals from the bird.
Ground control at Stellenbosch University is now currently busy with the commissioning of
the satellite, including deployment of the gravity boom to help stabilize the bird.

During the commissioning phase, amateurs are kindly requested to avoid using SunSat
uplink frequencies. The SunSat downlink will only be active when the satellite is within
range of the ZS1SUN groundstation. Amateurs are invited to monitor or record these
telemetry downlinks.

At this time the command team is planning general Amateur Radio service by the end of
March.

In 1969 the thought of an organization to build, fly and operate Amateur Radio
satellites was just that -- a thought -- and from humble beginnings The Radio Amateur
Satellite Corporation, known as AMSAT -- was born. Now, 30 years later, AMSAT North
America, along with many worldwide partners, shares an active interest in designing,
building, launching and communicating through analog and digital Amateur Radio satellites.

AMSAT-North America will celebrate its 30th anniversary on March 13, 1999 at the
NASA/Goddard Employee's Recreation Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The official festivities
are slated to begin early that evening, but there will be related activities throughout
the weekend including tours of the Hubble Space Telescope Center and the NASA Deep Space
Communications Network. AMSAT President Keith Baker, KB1SF, and AMSAT Chairman of the
Board Bill Tynan, W3XO, are planning to be in attendance. The public, along with Amateur
Radio satellite operators worldwide, is cordially invited to attend.

A special patch commemorating the 30th anniversary is expected to be available at the
Dayton Hamvention AMSAT booth. In addition, Rich Moseson, W2VU, CQ-VHF editor, is planning
a complete 30th anniversary AMSAT story in the March '99 issue.

Information and/or reservations for the 30th anniversary celebration can be made by
contacting AMSAT-NA at (301) 589-6062. Pat, WD8LAQ, reports the WA3NAN
146.835 MHz repeater will be used for "talk-in" during the festivities.

No AMSAT funds will be used for this event.

In addition to anniversary activities, AMSAT-NA is also looking forward to the 17th
Space Symposium and AMSAT-NA Annual Meeting. Slated to be held in San Diego, California
from October 8th through 11th, both recent and future developments in ham radio
satellites will be presented in detail. More information on this event is available from
AMSAT-NA headquarters or from Symposium chair Duane Naugle, KO6BT, at the following e-mail
address:

Gerard Auvray, F6FAO, tells ANS that QSL cards for Sputnik 41 "will be done
and sent in March."--Gerard, F6FAO

The AMSAT quote of the week comes from AMSAT-NA Vice President for Educational Liaison
Steve Bible, N7HPR: "it's been a busy year so far in the Amateur Satellite Service
and I've updated the satellite
information web pages on the AMSAT-NA web site." Check out Steve's updates at the
following URL: http://www.amsat.org/amsat/sats/n7hpr/satsum.html.--ANS

AMSAT Net of the week: ARK-LA-TEX Net The net meets each Monday night on the
146.670 MHz/Shreveport repeater. NCS is Roger, WA9PZL. Coverage is through northern
Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas and northeast Texas. This net is opened as a QCWA net but
is followed with AMSAT information and a Q&A period.--ANS

The man who first bounced a radar signal off the moon -- John DeWitt Jr., N4CBC --
died at his Nashville home recently, some 53 years after making radio history. His
death came just a few days after Orrin 'Hank' Brown, W6HB, also became a silent key. Brown
engineered the first Amateur Radio Earth-Moon-Earth (EME) contact in 1960. Both DeWitt and
Brown were 92.--ARRL Letter

Mission status of STS-96 -- the next ISS flight -- is as follows:
Vehicle: Discovery
Target launch: May 20, 1999
Mission duration: 9 days, 19 hours and 56 minutes
Orbital Information: 173 nautical miles/51.6 degrees
Status: Technicians have installed Discovery's remote manipulator system in the payload
bay. Workers have also started to install additional sensors inside the orbiter's drag
chute compartment. The added instrumentation will gather data through the first few
seconds of liftoff. Installation of the integrated vehicle health monitoring system for
the orbiter's main propulsion system continues and base heat shield modifications are on
schedule. The International Space Station continues to operate in good health as flight
controllers in Houston and Moscow use Russian ground stations and NASA's communications
tracking network to monitor the various systems on board.--NASA

NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE) spacecraft is scheduled for launch aboard an
Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL vehicle on Monday evening, March 1st. The drop of
the Pegasus from the L-1011 aircraft is targeted to occur at a location over the Pacific
Ocean approximately 100 miles offshore from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The WIRE
spacecraft will help astrophysicists understand the formation and evolution of 'starburst'
galaxies.--NASA

The proposed frequencies for the small satellite called 'Citizen Explorer' have been
announced. The proposed plan suggests a uplink/downlink combination of
145.860/436.750 MHz. More information is available at
http://citizen-explorer.colorado.edu.--Stephen Horan, New Mexico State University

An Ariane 44L rocket successfully delivered a pair of communications satellites
into space recently from Kourou, French Guiana in South America. The mission was the first
of 1999 for Arianespace. The first spacecraft deployed on Flight 116 was Arabsat-3A
for the Arab League. Arabsat-3A will be positioned at 26 degrees East longitude to
relay direct television programming. The Alcatel-built satellite also will be used for
telephone, fax and data transmissions.--Justin Ray/Florida Today

Out of action for more than 20 years, one of two Kennedy Space Center high-altitude
chambers formerly used to test Apollo Program flight hardware has been reactivated for use
in leak testing International Space Station pressurized modules. Use of the chambers first
began in 1965 at KSC to test the Apollo command service modules and lunar service modules.
They were last used in 1975 in support of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project missions. In 1985
the pumping equipment and control room were removed and scrapped and the chamber sat
unused until now.--NASA

Scott, WA6LIE, has a set of instructions on how to work the Mir space station. Copies
of the instructions are available from Scott by e-mail at wa6lie@juno.com,
or by packet at wa6lie@wa6lie.#wcca.ca.usa.noam.

[ANS thanks Scott Avery, WA6LIE, and the MIREX team for Mir status information]

Doug, W4OX, tells ANS he is planning a week RS-13 operation as KG4OX, starting
March 4th. Brian, OZ1SKY, reports RS-12/13 is working very good on European passes.
Brian reports a growing problem is "15-meter QRM" from stations that are unaware
that they are operating in a satellite uplink band segment.

RS-12/13 command is now in the hands of Alex Papkov, in Kaluga City, Russia.

Tony, AB2CJ, recently experimented with SSTV via FO-20 and reports receiving several
e-mail messages from those who copied the image. "I'd like to thank everyone for the
messages and suggestions," said AB2CJ.

A new operation schedule for FO-29 has been announced by the JARL. Digitalker operation
had been planned, however, the digital voice is experiencing problems. Digitalker
operation is again planned starting March 19th.

The new operation sked for FO-29 as announced by JARL command is as follows:

Not operational. The downlink transmitter has not been operational for any normal
communication.

ANS has learned (from the KO-23 ground command team) that satellite downlink telemetry
shows one of KO-23's battery cells to be very unstable. The command team is analyzing the
relationship between the battery life cycle and the downlink transmitter problem.

Jim, AA7KC, tells ANS that KO-23 has been putting out a few downlinks, "but
nothing useful at this time."

Clive, G3CWV, reports that good signals have been received from the 145.826 MHz beacon.

The ASCII bulletin is currently a static message, detailing modes and frequencies of
the current amateur radio satellites with additional status blocks after each bulletin and
between ASCII TLM and WOD.

The AO-16 command team has authorized an APRS experiment on AO-16 to explore the use of
the 1200-baud PACSAT for APRS position/status reporting. The test periods will run each
Tuesday from 0000 to 2359 UTC.

ProcMail V2.00G has been released by G7UPN. This software permits the processing of
image files from TO-31. ProcMail V2.00G is available for downloading on KO-23 and KO-25.
It also has been posted to the AMSAT-NA FTP site at the following URL:

Downlink 437.910 MHz FM 9600 Baud FSK
The satellite is not currently available for uplink transmissions.

Recovery efforts have been unsuccessful. The chances of SedSat-1 reaching full
operational status is doubtful.

SEDSAT-1, signifying Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Satellite
number one, was successfully launched and placed in orbit on Saturday, October 24,
1998.

Dennis, KD4ETA , reports SedSat is continuing to perform as it has since launch,
transmitting telemetry until the batteries are depleted and then going into safe mode --
then repeating the process. Dennis reports the satellite downlink has been active for over
four months of the stated minimum design life of six months. "It is just too bad we
have problems with the receivers or we would have such a beautiful bird," said
KD4ETA.

Dennis further noted "in my opinion we can claim now at least partial victory for
our satellite. Most of the engineering goals have been met, but it is just a total shame
that the imaging system has not been able to fulfill its mission due to the probable loss
of both receivers."

For more information on SedSat-1, including Version 1.2 of the SedSat ground
station software -- visit the satellite web site at the following URL:

Downlink frequency not established.
The satellite is not currently available for uplink transmissions.

PANSAT, developed by the Naval Postgraduate School, was launched from the shuttle
Discovery. PANSAT spread-spectrum digital transponders will be available to amateur radio
operators in the near future along with software to utilize this technology. The PO-34
command station is located in Monterey, California.

Dan Sakoda, KD6DRA, PANSAT Project Manager recommends 'The ARRL Spread Spectrum
Sourcebook' as a good place to start in understanding the spread-spectrum scheme.

The PANSAT Team does not expect the satellite to be available to the Amateur Radio
community for another few months.

DOVE stopped transmitting in March 1998. The 145.825 MHz and 2401.220 MHz
downlinks are off the air and the satellite has not responded to ground station control.
Command stations will again attempt contact in the near future.

QSL cards for receiving DOVE (when the satellite is operating) may be obtained from: